When the Washington Post publicized the launch of North America’s first all-electric, zero-emissions boats, they referred to an authoritative article on battery safety in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society. The introduction of two electric Maid of the Mist tour vessels at Niagara Falls heralds a new era in maritime travel. The boats, which run on dual banks of lithium ion batteries charged with hydro-electric power supplied by the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, are a zero-emission operation. But are their Li-ion batteries safe? (more…)

On June 17, 2020, Dr. Arumugam Manthiram, winner of the 2020 Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching, presented his talk on “Intricacies of High-Energy Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries” via a live webinar presentation.

Dr. Manthiram’s talk covered the fundamental science behind the development of high-energy density cathodes for lithium-ion batteries in the 1980s, the richness and complexity of layered oxide cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, and exposure to a perspective on high-energy, long-life, safe lithium-ion batteries.

View Dr. Manthiram’s webinar presentation, here.

Following the talk, attendees were given the opportunity to ask Dr. Manthiram questions in a Q&A session, available below. (more…)

Batteries—they’re all around us, from everyday items like cellphones and laptops to life-saving medical devices and environmentally-friendly electric vehicles. So, who are the people behind the batteries that continue to impact and improve our daily lives?

According to Research Interfaces, the following are the 10 lithium-ion battery researchers to watch. (more…)

It’s winter. And with that comes heavy coats, icy winds, and occasionally, below freezing temperatures: conditions not favorable for batteries.

Car batteries

Temperature extremes, in general, are not favorable to batteries. According to Lifewire, lead-acid batteries drop in capacity by about 20 percent in normal to freezing weather, and down to about 50 percent in temperatures that reach about -22 degrees Fahrenheit.

As a result, you may find your car battery giving out on any given winter morning. This is due to reduced capacity and increased draw from starter motors and accessories. This is because starter motors require a tremendous amount of amperage to get going: knocking out the capacity of even the newest batteries. (more…)

Have you ever picked up your cell, looked at the battery life, and go, “But I just charged this thing. What gives?” It’s not just you. According to The Washington Post, the smartphones battery life is getting worse. And, chances are, you’re new and upgraded 2018 smartphone’s battery life is actually worse than older models.

Phone makers have claimed to have tackled this battle by including more-efficient processors, low-power modes, and artificial intelligence to manage app drain, but it’s no secret to the battery industry that the lithium-ion batteries in smartphones have hit a plateau.

So, what gives? According to Nadim Maluf, CEO of a firm that optimizes batteries called Qnovos, batteries improve at a very slow pace, about 5 percent per year. (more…)

Lithium-ion batteries play a major role in our everyday lives; they’re in our cell phones, solar panels, tablets, cars, and medical devices, to name a few. All these modern technologies are made possible because of batteries. Yet, they’re far from perfect. The Samsung Note 7 self-combusted on nightstands and planes in 2016, injuring customers and causing second-degree burns in one Florida man. Not to mention, the hoverboard’s explosion around the same time, causing a recall of roughly 16,000 hoverboards.

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Capitalizing on tiny defects can improve electrodes for lithium-ion batteries, new research suggests.

In a study on lithium transport in battery cathodes, researchers found that a common cathode material for lithium-ion batteries, olivine lithium iron phosphate, releases or takes in lithium ions through a much larger surface area than previously thought.

“We know this material works very well but there’s still much debate about why,” says Ming Tang, an assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. “In many aspects, this material isn’t supposed to be so good, but somehow it exceeds people’s expectations.”

Part of the reason, Tang says, comes from point defects—atoms misplaced in the crystal lattice—known as antisite defects. Such defects are impossible to completely eliminate in the fabrication process. As it turns out, he says, they make real-world electrode materials behave very differently from perfect crystals.

(more…)